Homeland Security Secretary says complaints from Dubuque are off the mark

The Secretary of the U.S. Homeland Security Department says complaints from Iowa Chamber of Commerce executives are off the mark. Earlier this week, the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce president said proposed federal homeland security rules are “just ridiculous” because they’ll require the Port of Dubuque to undertake the same security measures as the Port of Los Angeles. Ridge was in Iowa yesterday, and rejected that contention. Ridge says the Coast Guard is writing maritime security rules and assessing all the country’s ports. Ridge says based on those assessments, “one size doesn’t necessarily fit all.”Ridge says the feds aren’t going to come in and say you have to secure a river port the way you have to secure an ocean port like Miami or Long Beach, California. Ridge says the government will expect “certain, minimal levels of protection across the board.” But Ridge says the Coast Guard assessments aren’t complete, which means the rules aren’t final either. The president and C-E-O of the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday that federal homeland security rules have “gone off the deep end” and officials from Iowa’s largest river port cities would lobby the federal government to make the rules less restrictive.